Jonah
1:1
Jonah was a prophet from Gath Hepher, a town in Israel. He was the son of Amittai.
The Lord asked Jonah to go to Nineveh. He was to tell the people of Nineveh to repent of their sins.
But Jonah didn’t want to do it. That is because the Assyrians were the Israelites’ enemies.
1:17, 2:1–10
The Lord prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. For three days Jonah had time to think.
What did Jonah do when he was in trouble? And what did Jonah say the Lord did? Read verse 1.
What happened to Jonah? Read verse 5. And what did he think? Read verse 6.
What did Jonah remember? Then what did he do? Read verse 7.
Finally, what did Jonah promise he would do? Read verse 9.
Thinky suggests that you write the answers to these questions in your journal.
Read your journal when you have a problem.
The words you wrote will remind you to always ask the Lord to help you.
3:1–4
The Lord gave Jonah a second chance. Once again, he told Jonah to go to Nineveh.
This time Jonah obeyed the Lord.
Inny would like to know if you have ever been given a second chance.
What did you do? Did you use your second chance to choose wisely?
Many times we don’t do what the Lord asks us to do. If we tell the Lord that we are sorry, he forgives us.
The Lord loves us and encourages us to live for him.
4:1–11
Hearty thinks Jonah didn’t believe God’s love was for everyone.
Jonah couldn’t understand how God could love and forgive the Assyrians!
They were Israel’s enemies! Jonah was also afraid that Israel would no longer be God’s special people.
So Jonah was very upset. What did he say to the Lord? Read verse 3.
Find the colors on Hearty’s color chart on page 19 that show how Jonah was feeling.
Hearty wants you to think about this. Jonah wanted to keep God’s love for himself and for Israel.
And maybe we are the same way. We aren’t always ready to share God’s love with others.
But God’s love is for everyone! It’s our job to tell people about God’s love for them.
If that scares you, remember the Lord is with you as he was with Jonah.
